Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Lost: "Happily Ever After"

Oh brotha, is there no reality where you can't woo?

Every woman's Scottish fantasy, Desmond, had is much belated return tonight; like "The Constant," before it, "Happily Ever After" remained true to form for a Desmond episode. From epic love, to time and reality bending weirdness, to the same damn characters, Desmond's mind once again took an involuntary trip abroad. What he brought back: a massive download of information about our sideways reality. Desmond, the key puzzle piece with his miraculous-(Jacob?)-given ability to survive massive amounts of surging energy, is our first official bridge between the two realities. People were often wondering if/when these two realities would converge, and thanks to our old friend and resident junkie, Charlie, the wall between the two worlds is starting to crumble. The force that pierces the veil between worlds: Love.

Even with all these touchy-feely moments for our characters (except for Sun's bullet to the babymaker), something just hasn't been right for our sideways Losties; lingering looks into mirrors, questions about scars and their own past - things haven't been connecting like they should have been. Still though, the characters and audience were able to shrug it off, because hey, it looks like everything in this new reality seemed to be pretty upbeat compared to the shat-storm on the island...though perhaps a little too upbeat. Then it came crashing home thanks to the mother of millenia, Eloise Widmore, as she took Desmond aside: You have what you wanted most, the affection of Charles Widmore. Leave it alone.

Yeah, she sounded a little too much like Smokey and his promise: "What if you could have anything you want." It's almost like the sideways reality is the fulfillment of that promise. Eloise, has everything she wanted: she is the main squeeze of Charles Widmore, and her son is still alive. Eloise makes it clear, with the implied knowledge of Desmond and his search, that she knows some of what is going on in this new world. Whether or not Eloise (and Widmore himself), are behind this reality because of the island endgame, or that they too have had flashes but have a vested interest in maintaining the separation between worlds, is up in the air.

Their son Daniel Faraday, genius musician (wonder if he needs a pianist, Jack?) and mullet-rocker, has other ideas. Once he found his constant in this new reality, Charlotte, Faraday has had flashes and memory downloads of his island-reality physicist's life. Faraday postulates that his detonation of a nuclear bomb has created this reality that wasn't supposed to have happened. What Charlie, Faraday, and now Desmond know now in this alternate world is that it is true love that binds them to these people they seemingly have never met. You see, that constant, that X factor that bridges time and space, that eternal selfless notion of loving someone unconditionally, THAT is the force that will bind and protect our heroes from Smokey's evil in the end, and will connect the two worlds.

No matter what happens on the island, Desmond has caught a glimpse that it is love - that sacrificing the self for another - that springs eternal and binds us to one another, in this life or the next. It is this realization that Juliette smiles at upon her death, the "It worked," moment; I bet that we'll come to find out that she too flashes sideways after releasing the mass of energy to a place where she and her love, Sawyer, are reunited. As she finds her constant, her consciousness returns to the island world to deliver a message of hope: love will find a way.

Perhaps the ultimate fate of Smokey, the evil that will wash over the world, is tied directly the castaway's finding their constants in this new reality. Alternate and Island Desmond are now on a mission: alternate Desmond needs to find the other Losties and introduce them to their constants, while island-Desmond seeks to save the world and protect his. Just a theory, but maybe the endgame and thwarting of Smokey will be because the Losties will finally find and realize their constants.